Before It's Over
by Sassy Aloo
Summary: They'll have this moment together because one day something will happen... and maybe one of them won't be there anymore. RenoCloud.


**Warnings:**Fluff and just a touch of angst.

**Pairing: **Cloud/Reno

**Sassy's Note:** JediEmpress and Riku-Rocks have managed to thoroughly traumatize me… so in order to recover I had to write some mindless Reno/Cloud loving. -shudders- I feel much better now.

**Before It's Over**

Reno yawned widely, nuzzling his cheek into the soft blond spikes that had been tickling his nose. He didn't mind the tickling, or the warm weight that was settled against his right side, or even the snoring from his exhausted lover. He was warm and content, and Cloud was back where he was supposed to be, and everything was right in his world.

Well, almost everything.

Cloud let out an unconscious groan of discomfort against Reno's collarbone and squirmed in the redhead's loose embrace. With a concerned frown, Reno slid his hands across his lover's bare torso to his lower back and kneaded the skin there with firm hands. The blond garbled unintelligibly for a moment without waking up, and when his mutterings died away, he was snoring peacefully on Reno's shoulder again.

The redhead smiled and pressed a kiss to the blond spikes. It was late, at least two in the morning, and even though Reno was tired and could probably sleep a good while himself, he didn't want to go to sleep yet. It had been too long since he had just lain in bed with Cloud. Said blue-eyed blond may currently be asleep, but he didn't have to be awake to be swathed with love and affection from one not-so-lonely-anymore redhead.

No matter how many times Cloud said he was "just a delivery boy" these days, he still seemed to have a lot to do that didn't seem to have anything to do with Strife's Delivery Service. Reno wasn't even sure where the ex-SOLDIER had gone tromping off to _this_ time. All he knew was that Cloud had returned home a bit worse for wear.

Upon seeing his lover standing in the doorway after nearly a week the Turk had been purely ecstatic and hesitated less than a second before pulling Cloud inside and into his embrace. It took less than another second for Reno to realize that Cloud's stance was _way_ too rigid and strained. Barely five seconds after that, Reno had gauged the look on the blond's face and was guiding him gently to their bedroom.

That had been hours ago, and Cloud had been asleep for nearly that long. Reno had wanted to ask where he had been and what had happened and why he was in the shape he was in, but he let the questions wait – mostly because his Cloud was unconscious before he could even open his mouth to ask the questions.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Cloud to take care of himself. It was just that Reno worried. Yes, he _worried_. He'd seen Cloud at lowest as well as his highest. He knew what his lover could handle and what he could not. He'd go so far as to wager that he knew Cloud better than anyone else – just because he'd seen all the different sides and emotions of the puzzle that was Cloud Strife.

Reno wasn't an idiot. He didn't delude himself into ignoring what he knew was blatantly obvious. He was a Turk, and Cloud was an ex-SOLDIER, ex-mercenary savior of the Planet twice over. He still had his job to do, and Cloud still played the hero. They'd done pretty good so far, but Cloud had already died once – without even knowing it was coming. The battle was over, and he was still struck. The Planet was safe, but he himself would never be safe.

It terrified Reno to think that one day Cloud would leave on another one of his "trips" and never come home. The truly terrifying part of it was that Reno knew one day it was more likely to happen than not. Maybe Cloud wouldn't be killed, but there were many ways to torture and destroy without killing.

This didn't all apply to just Cloud either. Reno's job as a Turk certainly wasn't the safest. One day it might be the redhead who didn't return home to his eagerly awaiting lover, or maybe he would return, just not in one peace or in a stable state of mind.

Reno had never come to hate his job description so much as after he kissed Cloud that first time. He was still proud to be a Turk – he would always be a Turk at heart – but if he had to choose between the Turks and Cloud, well… maybe at one time he would have been loyal to his Turks, but not anymore – not when he was in so deep sometimes he couldn't even breathe.

He moved his hands over Cloud's back and up to his shoulders to rub comforting circles into his skin before sliding back down and securing his arms around his waist. Cloud didn't move, but that was okay, and Reno smiled.

There was no guarantee they would always come home to each other alive and well; there was no guarantee of anything, really.

So Reno didn't ask Cloud where he would run off to. He didn't ask why the blond returned so sore and tired or where his most recent injury happened to come from. He didn't question the blond when he simply pulled the redhead to him and stood there for an infinite amount of time. No, he would never ask.

He would always welcome his Cloud back with open arms, always hand over the appropriate recovery materia or potion or administer the most reliving and soothing technique to the situation, always stood there and held Cloud in return while trying to pretend he didn't hear the hitch in the blond's breath or feel the wetness on the blond's face. He didn't need to ask.

He already knew. Their time would draw to a close – tomorrow or fifty years from now, it didn't matter. They would be over for whatever reason due to whatever situation. He knew. They both knew.

That's why Reno looked to the clock – almost time for the sun to rise – and rested his cheek on the blond's head again but didn't let himself fall asleep. He'd be awake when Cloud woke up just to see those crystal-blues blink sleepily at him and those lips quirk into a lazy smile, to feel the body of his lover stretch against him, to fall just a little bit more for him before it was all over.

-end-

**Sassy:** Let the story go where it willed and it turned out quite a bit more angsty than I had originally thought, but I was spurred on by the thought that the unexpected can always happen. With Jedi's traumatizing revelation came a bit of an insightful idea. _How would Cloud react if…?_


End file.
